Travelling

[Nan]

We have a long train trip booked - Sydney to Perth, clear across the continent, 3 nights in all. Something

I have wanted to do for a long time. Given past train experiences, I hope this is not like the 'first class soft sleeper' from Beijing to Xian in China, that was about as comfortable as lying on a slab of concrete!

[Beryl]

Hi, Nan, I hope that you have time for us to meet when you come over here! I will PM you my contact details.

The second longest drive that I have done was back in 1977. I was appointed to Nth NZ when I had finished college, and later married, and still later, when my husband's parents had both passed away, and I had not seen my family since I had flown over when my father had passed away as a result of an accident -- I was homesick! My husband was in bad health, and we sold up and flew from Auckland to Sydney -- complete with the family's two dogs (Mum, we are not going to leave them here!). Purchased a station waggon and trailer in Sydney, and began the drive to WA -- about 3000 miles "as the crow flies". (Or is it 4,000?) Anyway, we DIDN'T go "as the crow flies" I wanted to "show off" Australia to my children, because I know that WA is basically a mixture of being very sandy and very beautiful. We went down the coast road to Melbourne, and then followed the coast through Mt Gambier and on to Adelaide, then another 3 l-o-n-g days travelling to get to Norseman, then, to give the family a chance to see that there IS water in WA we turned down to the coast, Esperance, and then travelled to Albany, and then the final full day trip up to Perth.

It was a journey I will never forget. At one place on the way it was 48 degrees Celcius and a burning hot wind straight off the desert. And there was one incident that I will NEVER forget.

We were travelling from Esperance to Albany. The road was good, my passengers were all asleep (including the dogs), and I was travelling at the full allowable speed when suddenly with just a couple of steps this very, very large Emu (much taller than the car) was right at the car with its head in front of the windscreen. I let out a yell (or scream) as I braked, because if I had hit that emu going at that speed, I am pretty sure I would not by typing this today! How that emu missed both the car and trailer I cannot tell, but it did. I can only believe that an angel's hand was there.

When I screamed I woke up my passengers, who wanted to know what the scream was all about. I told them about the emu -- but the emu had disappeared. I had seen it taking off through the paddock into the bush, but of course they didn't see it! I still get an occasional tease -- but I still love them!!

The longest drive was some 7 or 8 years later when I made the trip back to Sydney to my daughter's graduation from the Sydney Adventist Hospital followed by her wedding. This time I had a detour to Adelaide and Melbourne on the way over, but a direct trip back. That was the longest trip that I have ever driven. (Or, does that count as 2 trips? There and back?)

These days I fly when going to Sydney!

Beryl

[Gerr]

By car, going cross country from Calif to NC, stopping only to sleep and rest on the Sab.

By distance, from Calif to the Ukraine.

Hitch-hiking, from Aiken, SC to Collegedale, TN.

[phkrause]

That reminds me Nan, one year we decided to take AmTrak to Florida and than back to Mass instead of driving or flying. What a pain in the gludius maximus that was. We vowed never to do that again. The first leg which was from Mass to DC was not to bad. But that second leg from DC to DeLand, they put us in the next to last car and the last row. All night people were coming and going thru the door right behind us. It stunk of cigarette's. Found out later it was the smoking car they were going to. On the way back it wasn't that bad because we figured out what to do from the way down. I did get to see my brother in DC where the train stopped and we had about a 2 hour wait between trains, I believe. We got in early in the morning, so he came and met us in the morning, that's when the train got in. He took us to breakfast.

pk

[Lineman]

When I was just a kid of 10 years my family moved from Jacksonville, Florida to La Sierra, California (about 2,400 miles). Not sure how long it took us exactly, but we drove in a VW pickup (like a crew-cab) pulling a luggage trailer. Both the truck and trailer were so heavy with stuff that we lost a bumper at one point along the way. Going up and over the mountains was so slow that dad even got out and walked beside us as we continued to drive.

This is not a picture of our truck, but it gives you the idea. Just imagine a tarp-covered trailer behind this:

[Taylor]

Well we've driven across the USA many times and once I drove from California to TN and 3/4 the way down to the bottom of Mexico. We've driven from Costa Rica to Ohio...does that count? Road trips like that are very long but can be so much fun as well. You chalk the "problems" up to adventure and it's all good.

[Liz]

Reading these, makes me want to jump in the car and drive somewhere. I need a vacation.